The losses of D David Carle (heart condition) and F Stepan Novotny (major-junior) have trimmed DU’s incoming freshman class to four. Question is, will the Pios add more players?

Probably not, according to DU assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Steve Miller. Carle will attend DU and keep his scholarship, and Novotny’s full deal likely will be invested among current walkons, Miller said.

In my mind, Novotny’s loss isn’t that big a deal. He was asked to think about deferring his deal until 2009 because of the program returns 11 of its top 12 forwards, and you know No. 1 recruit Joe Colborne is going to be among the top 12, so the Pios are going to be just fine up front.

In addition to Colborne, who went 16th overall in the recent NHL draft to Boston, the Pios add C/W Nate Dewhurst and Colorado native Luke Salazar. Like Colborne, Dewhurst will be on a full-ride and will have every opportunity to play. That means 13 guys, including 11 with experience, will battle for 12 spots.

So Novotny, in my mind, was expendable. He could have been one of those young, talented kids that need a ton of ice time to gain confidence … a work in progress. But without him, the team will put more experience out there.

The bigger question is what to do without Carle? He could have been the team’s top offensive defenseman this season. Miller says a healthy John Ryder and fellow sophomores-to-be Jon Cook and Joey Brehm will give the team a chance to have reliable depth.

The top six D-men will be seniors JP Testwuide and Patrick Mullen, junior Cody Brookwell, Ryder, sophomore Chris Nutini and freshman John Lee. Senior Julian Marcuzzi, Cook and Brehm will provide depth.

Certainly no Aaron McKenzies, Ryan Caldwells, Brett Skinners, Matt Carles or Chris Butlers in the mix, but I’m told Ryder and Lee could become good two-way players at this level. We’ll see.

The DU hockey team is giddy about incoming freshman Joe Colborne being selected in the first round of last weekend’s NHL draft. Colborne, 18, went 16th overall to the Boston Bruins, making the power forward one of DU’s most exciting prospects in 60 years of the program.

The Pioneers’ only other top-round draft pick was defenseman Craig Redmond, who went No. 6 overall to the Los Angeles Kings in 1984.

The 6-foot-5 Colborne, Canada’s 2008 junior A player of the year, said Sunday his cell phone expired Saturday after receiving so many calls and text messages from supporters, many from Denver. He borrowed a friend’s phone Sunday near his home in Calgary to catch up with The Denver Post.

“Obviously, it’s a pretty big honor, especially being taken by a team like Boston, an Original Six team,” Colborne said. “I’m just pretty exited about the whole thing and hopefully it will pay off in a few years.”

Colborne, the son of Calgary oil and gas millionare Paul Colborne, squashed rumors that he is thinking about turning pro immediately.

“Oh yeah,” he said when asked if he’ll be in a DU sweater this fall. “(The Bruins) were one of the most supportive teams of Denver. They couldn’t be more happy with my decision to go there. They’re expecting me to go there and looking forward to seeing me continue to develop under (George Gwozdecky’s) great coaching staff.”

Boston will retain Colborne’s professional rights through college, but the Bruins could sign him at any time. Colborne declined to estimate how many seasons he might play at DU.

“We’ll make that decision when it comes along,” he said. “We’re obviously not in a rush, so we’ll make that decision when we have to.”

Like any DU player or fan, Big Joe was excited to play with proposed incoming freshman defenseman David Carle, who was expected to be selected in the second round of the draft. Carle, however, has been diagnosed with a dangerous heart condition that has ended his hockey career.

“That’s tough, real tough,” Colborne said of Carle’s retirement. “Coach (Derek) Lalonde was at the draft and he told me right before it started. I called his number and sent him a text. It’s horrible. It looked like he had a great career ahead of him. It kind of makes you sit back and look at the big picture of life.”

I wanted to get this out immediately. Edited versions will soon be at www.denverpost.com/sports and in Sunday’s paper. — MC

By Mike Chambers
The Denver Post

The enthusiasm generated by University of Denver recruit Joe Colborne being selected in Friday’s first round of the NHL draft was tempered by news that another incoming freshman has a serious heart condition and will not play for the Pioneers.

Defenseman David Carle, brother of former DU star Matt Carle of the San Jose Sharks, withdrew from the draft after being told by doctors Thursday that he has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart that has been linked to sudden death for athletes.

Among those that have died from the disease while participating in sports are basketball stars Hank Gathers of Loyola Marymount (1990) and Reggie Lewis of the Boston Celtics (1993), figure skater Sergei Grinkov (1995) and University of Massachusetts swimmer Greg Menton (1996).

“I’m really quite fortunate they were able to find it before it was too late,” said Carle, ranked No. 60 among North American draft-eligible skaters. “It’s tough, but I’m just trying to focus on the positives.”
Carle, 18, still plans on attending DU and said Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky told him his scholarship would be honored. Gwozdecky was unavailable for comment.

“I’m grateful to NHL doctors for discovering it, and very happy with the University of Denver for honoring my scholarship and still treating me like part of the family,” Carle said.

Carle’s disease is different than the one that forced former Avalanche forward Steve Konowalchuk to retire in 2006. Konowalchuk has Long QT Syndrome, a genetic disease involving electrical conduction that can lead to irregular heart rhythms.

Denver-based agent Kurt Overhardt, whose clients include Matt Carle, is David Carle’s advisor and informed all NHL teams Friday that David’s promising hockey career was over.

Saturday, however, the Tampa Bay Lightening selected Carle in the seventh round (203rd overall) in the 210-player draft. Carle, who led the renowned hockey program at Shattuck-St. Mary’s High School in Faribault, Minn., to USA Hockey Tier I under-18 national championships the past two seasons, thinks Tampa Bay’s selection might have been a tribute.

“My best guess is my assistant coach (at Shattuck-St. Mary’s), Ben Johnson, is now a scout for Tampa Bay,” Carle said. “I find it funny, more than anything. It’s going to be interesting to get that phone call and see what’s going through their heads, why they did that.”
Incoming Lightning owner Oren Koules pushed for the Lightning to select Carle.

“The kid worked his whole life to be drafted in the NHL, and I didn’t see a reason he shouldn’t be,” Koules said on the club’s website.

Carle has spent the past two days studying about his disease, and has learned a solid diet and only light exercise will give him a chance for a normal life.

He is motivated to help other athletes that don’t know they have it.

“The awareness of the disease is not out there,” he said. “I would like to stress to others that I didn’t show any symptoms and I encourage all athletes to get tested, because usually your first symptom is cardiac arrest, so it’s your last symptom.”

The affable Carle was expected to be taken in the first two rounds. Matt Carle, who in 2006 became DU first Hobey Baker Award winner as NCAA player of the year, was selected in the second round (47th) of the 2003 draft by San Jose.

Matt Carle said in January that his brother is “better than me.”
Carle said his heart condition was first detected at the recent NHL combine and confirmed Thursday at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

“Once I got my results I got back and read about the disease online,” he said. “I was real conscious and paid attention to it, and I did notice some chest pains.
“But nothing in my workouts, on or off the ice, did I ever feel like something was wrong.”

Fifty-three young American hockey players will have a chance to make the 2008-09 U.S. World Junior Team. The good/bad news from a Colorado standpoint: No DU or CC players were on the list.

It’s obviously good promotion to have your guys make this team, but it’s so taxing for the players. In the end, I think the program suffers — and not only because they missed the NCAA holiday tournaments.

In last year’s tournament, DU’s Tyler Ruegsegger and Rhett Rakhshani were teammates with CC’s Bill Sweatt. They returned to Colorado and, for the DU boys especially, they were less effective than when they left. Great experience for the threesome, but bad for their schools.

The only kid with a Colorado background on the tryout list is former Littleton resident Drayson Bowman, who plays for Spokane of the Western Hockey League. Bowman grew up playing in the Littleton Hockey Association.

Air Force senior center Eric Ehn is set to return to the lineup for the Falcons’ NCAA Tournament Northwest Regional opener against Miami (Ohio) on Saturday in Worcester, Mass.

Ehn, who has missed 14 games since sustaining leg and ankle injuries Jan. 19 at Colorado College, “is probable” for the first-round game, coach Frank Serratore said Wednesday.

“He’s got to practice at game pace so we know he’s got it, but I’d say he’s ready to go,” Serratore said. “If we don’t think he can come in and at least outplay our 12th forward, he won’t play. We won’t ask him to lead us to the promised land. We just want him to be one of the boys.”

Ehn, a Hobey Baker Award finalist a year ago as national player of the year, had team highs in assists (19) and points (25) at the time of his injury.

Travel partners. Air Force and the University of Denver, which opens the NCAA Tournament at the Midwest Regional in Madison, Wis., on Saturday, will share a charter flight today.

“We’ll be dropping Denver off in Madison and then going to Boston,” Serratore said.

You have to like Dan Hawkins’ vision, enthusiasm and optimism when talking about facilities improvements at Colorado, which in the past have progressed at a snail’s pace, if at all.

Hawkins’ goal of expanding the Dal Ward Athletic Center on both the east and west sides of the building could include adding seats to fill in the stadium bowl. Hawkins said he already has spoken with architects about that possibility.

Working (on dial-up) the Avs-Stars tonight from the Pepsi Center and thought of some college/NHL items …

Didn’t Brett Skinner give up his senior season and being captain at DU to sign for the Canucks before the ’05-06 season? The former all-everything for the Pios is now with his third NHL organization, after being traded from Anaheim to Boston on Monday, and still hasn’t played in an NHL game. He was sent to the Bruins’ AHL club in Providence.Read more…